Despite the uptick in performance that McLaren have unlocked on the MCL38 this season, the Woking-based team have not managed to achieve the results that would have been expected of them. On the most recent episode of The Red Flags Podcast, Guenther Steiner pointed out how McLaren also lost out on an opportunity to win the recently concluded Belgian Grand Prix as he believes they had the fastest car.
Steiner gave three reasons for why he believes McLaren failed to beat Mercedes at Spa. He said, “There were just a few things that went wrong. Lando [Norris] messed up the start again. The real thing was that the overtaking was very difficult. I think the Mercedes strategy was better.”
McLaren will work with Lando Norris to help him fix his mistakes after another error at the start of the Belgian GP last weekend.
Details ⬇️https://t.co/8eIOvYznKv
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) August 1, 2024
Steiner then explained that because the field is so closely bunched together at the front of the grid, overtaking was almost impossible. To overtake at Spa, a driver needs at least a 0.5-second per lap advantage. But because the performance deltas were so minute, very few overtakes were witnessed over the course of the 44-lap race at Spa.
McLaren is confident of fighting Red Bull for the Constructors’ title
As the 2024 F1 season has progressed, McLaren have emerged as the closest rivals to reigning champions Red Bull. After 14 races, Red Bull currently have a 42-point advantage over McLaren, which Zak Brown believes his team can cover to win the Constructors’ title this year.
The McLaren CEO also claimed in a recent interview that Lando Norris may have a chance of fighting for the Drivers’ Championship as well. However, for Norris to beat championship leader Max Verstappen, he will have to cover a whopping 77-point deficit with just 10 races remaining in the season.
Just watched the interview with Will Buxton and Zak Brown.
Brown was asked about how he wanted to win the constructors in a nice way and not like Red Bull.
Zak Brown said they could be ruthless without being a prick.
Now, what has Red Bull done in the last 4 seasons that…
— WimboFormula1 (@Formula1Wimbo) July 28, 2024
That being said, the Belgian GP exposed certain limitations of McLaren. The biggest one of them was their habit of dropping points despite having a quick car.
With Norris again getting a poor start at Spa, he only managed a P5 finish. If this trend continues, Red Bull and Verstappen could run away with the titles this season.
